In 1882, as a counter-project to other irrigation schemes, Cope Whitehouse suggested[17] utilising as a reservoir the Wadi Rayan, a depression which had been referred to by Linant de Bellefonds.[18] At the request of Sir Colin Scott Moncrieff the Government deputed Colonel Western to make plans of the Wadi Rayan and surrounding country and to ascertain the capacity of the depression and its capability of being used as a reservoir. Liernur Bey under his direction prepared a contoured map, and Colonel Western’s report, plans, and estimates were published.[19] Some general details of the wadi and surrounding hills are given and the detailed survey showed that the 30 metre contour line (above sea-level) enclosed an area of 706 square kilometres (170,000 feddans). The lowest points of the depression were found at 42 metres below sea-level. The sand, scrub and springs are briefly referred to and the discharge of the latter is given as equal to that of a very slow-going four inch hand pipe, the water running out at about + 20 m. and disappearing in the sand. Wadi Muêla was found to be separated from the Rayan depression by sandhills and rock at a mean level of + 50 metres, the lowest point in Muêla being at + 25 metres. A line of levels was run from Rayan through Muêla to the Nile Valley, the highest point crossed being at + 105 metres; for fifteen kilometres the level was not below + 75 metres. In order to find the most suitable passage for a canal to connect the Nile with the Wadi Rayan two lines of level were made after a reconnaissance of the hills near Sidmant el Jebel: the southern, from Ezba Menesi Ali, near the Gharaq canal, to Mazana on the Bahr Yusef, being considered the best. Along this line the highest point was only at + 44·7 metres and the average + 35 metres along four kilometres. Borings were not made here but judging from the surface excavation would be mostly in soft limestone, sand, and conglomerate. A much shorter route is from Deshasleh on the Bahr Yusef over the hills about 5 kilometres to the south of Mazana or Sidmant into the Wadi Gharaq, a distance of 30 kilometres. This route was not however levelled but is fairly straight and apparently not much higher than the Mazana passage. The survey of the + 30 metre contour line of the Wadi Rayan proved that there were only two outlets into the Fayûm, both on the northern side: these two openings are only from 400-500 metres wide and their lowest points are not below + 25 or + 26 metres. [Sidenote: Later Government Publications by Scott Moncrieff and Willcocks.] In 1889 Sir C. Scott Moncrieff published[20] a further note, in which he briefly discussed the probable cost and benefits to be derived from the suggested reservoir, concluding that at least the project was one worthy of being thoroughly examined.